YA author Morgan Rhodes helps us wait for 'Game of Thrones' season 4

Posted by Cat on December 05, 2013

How do plan to fill your time while you wait for the return of HBO's "Game of Thrones" next spring? Books, as always, are the answer. YA author Morgan Rhodes is the author of the Falling Kingdoms series, and the first in the high fantasy series was immediately pinpointed as a great read for fans of GOT. The second in the series, Rebel Spring, continues the engaging tale.

In a guest post, Rhodes shares a little more about her series' appeal for GOT fans, and she also recommends 10 more books to read while waiting for GOT season 4. Check it out:

Are you craving the fourth season of "Game of Thrones" on HBO like I am? Need something to tide you over until Dany again flashes that platinum mane (not to mention her dragons) and Jon Snow dons his big black wooly coat? Allow me to introduce you to my Falling Kingdoms series (the second book, Rebel Spring, came out on December 3) and offer up five reasons why it’s been called “Game of Thrones for teens.”

1) An ensemble cast of diverse characters!
From princesses and kings to witches and rebels, there are multiple character POVs to help expand the canvas on which the Falling Kingdoms story is painted. Four teens find their lives intertwined after a murder that sparks a war: Princess Cleo, the spoiled youngest daughter of a good king, who finds her life forever altered after a fateful trip to market; Jonas, the son of a winemaker, whose brother is murdered, summoning his desire for vengeance; Prince Magnus, the son and heir to an evil king, who grapples with his father’s dark actions as well as his forbidden feelings for his sister; and Princess Lucia, who is realizing with growing alarm that she may be the sorceress spoken of in an ancient prophecy.

2) A fight for ultimate power!
In Mytica, where magic has faded from both the land and the memories of its people for a thousand years, three kingdoms clash for power. Limeros is the northern kingdom, which is turning slowly to ice and is under the thumb of a cruel and sadistic king. Paelsia is a wasteland with citizens who’ve wholly handed their lives over to fate. Auranos, the southern kingdom, is a beautiful, sunny haven, but its people are hedonistic and self-involved.

3) Magic and witches and shapeshifters . . . Oh my!
It’s elemental magic, known as elementia, that’s up for grabs in Mytica, but very few believe it’s anything more than legend. There are the Watchers, beautiful creatures who can take the form of hawks in their search for the Kindred, the source of pure and omnipotent magic. And there’s the prophesied sorceress the Watchers been waiting for for a thousand years who is said will be the one to bring powerful magic back to the world.

4) Kickass action and gritty battle scenes!
I mean, in a kingdom at war, it’s unlikely everyone’s just going to hug it out, right?

5) Lusty characters who lust for lustful things!
Only, you know, in a totally teen-appropriate way.

Feeling the itch for even MORE high fantasy to combat "Game of Thrones" withdrawal? Then you should definitely check out these books as well . . .